Advice to Students

[Guest guest]

Om! Friends, you are the future hope of the motherland. You are the

citizens of tomorrow. You should always think over the goal of life

and live to attain it. The goal of life is the attainment of freedom

from all sorts of misery or the state of Kaivalya or liberation from

the cycle of births and deaths. Lead a well-regulated moral life.

Moral strength is the backbone of spiritual progress. Ethical culture

is part and parcel of spiritual Sadhana. Keep up Brahmacharya or the

vow of celibacy. By the observance of Brahmacharya many of the sages

of yore have attained immortality. Brahmacharya is the source of new

strength, vigour, vitality and success in life, and eternal happiness

hereafter. Loss of this vital energy is the cause of disease,

miseries and premature death. Therefore, take particular care to

preserve this vital energy. Practice of Brahmacharya gives good

health, inner strength, peace of mind and long life. It invigorates

the mind and the nerves and helps to conserve physical and mental

energy. It augments the strength and courage. It gives power to face

the difficulties in the daily battle of life. A perfect Brahmachari

can, like Jnanadeva, move the world, can command nature and the five

elements. Develop faith in the Vedas and the power of Mantra.

Practise meditation daily. Take Sattvic food. Do not overload the

stomach. Repent for your mistakes. Admit your faults freely. Never

try to hide your faults by lame excuses or by uttering falsehoods.

Obey the laws of nature. Take plenty of physical exercise daily.

Perform the prescribed duties at the appointed time. Develop simple

living and high thinking. Give up vile imitation. Get thorough

overhauling of your wrong-Samskaras you have created through bad

association. Study the Upanishads, the Yoga-Vasishtha, the Brahma

Sutras and Sri Sankara's Select Works and other scriptures. Therein

you will find real solace and peace. Some Western philosophers have

declared: " We are Christians by birth and faith but we can find the

peace which the mind wants and the satisfaction the soul needs only

in the Upanishads of the seers of East. " Move amicably with all. Love

all. Serve all. Develop adaptability and the spirit of selfless

service and penetrate into the hearts of all through untiring

service. This is verily Advaitic realisation of unity or oneness.

 

(Source: Essence of Yoga by Sri Swami Sivananda)